The Air Force chief of staff on cyberwar, the next generation of stealth, and the future of air warfare.

What do you consider to be the three hallmarks or trends of future air warfare?

What the Air Force will do in the future will be the same as what we do today. It's how we do them that will change. We perform the same five core missions we've been doing since 1947, but now we do them in and through three domains: air, space, and cyberspace.

In terms of the battlespace, the most significant trend we see is the increased rate of changethe pace at which disruptive technologies appear and proliferate across the globe. Many of the military advantages our Air Force has enjoyed for decades will be overcome, and the edge that new technologies provide will be increasingly short-lived. This creates both opportunities and challenges for us.

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The second trend, which has been building for a while, is the development of surface-to-air missiles and integrated air-defense systems that frustrate our ability to gain access to a region. Ground-based radars and surface-to-air missiles are making leaps in technology, enabling aircraft to be detected and targeted at increased ranges. To ensure our nation continues to have the ability to strike anytime and anywhere, we must continue to blend stealth technologies and new technologies like hypersonic-propulsion systems, autonomous sensors and weapons systems, and directed-energy weapons that can operate across domains. That said, I believe cross-domain capabilities will change the character of air warfare. Air warfare in the future will not be fought solely in the air domain.

It will require a different way of thinkinga conscious approach to figuring out how people and things can work better together. We've got to figure out how to connect data systems across domains, how to better connect sensors, extend ranges. How do we create and enable plug-and-play systems, whether it's a Marine system "driving" into an Air Force information bubble, or an Air Force aircraft driving into a Navy information bubble? This all has to be seamless for us. We have to evolve institutionally and operationally so that we're agile enough to adapt to these changes faster than our adversaries.

Technology seems to be the Pentagon's answer to meeting global commitments with shrinking budgets. What's the best way to mitigate risks associated with adopting new technology and the demands of readiness?

The Air Force will always be a technological service. We have attracted, educated, and empowered innovative airmen since our inception and will continue to do so in the future. Here's one example: For decades we've been using sophisticated computers to remove a lot of the riskand costof developing new aircraft. What once required many test flights with prototype aircraft is now mostly done with computers to test new airfoils, engines, and speed profiles.

Certainly there's risk with new technologies that aren't proven, so we often will maintain capabilities in a proven platform until the new one is operational. This was the philosophy behind our fielding of the F-35, just like when we fielded the F-22. It's the same thing we do with new generations of satellites and cyber capability.

We also manage risk with emerging technology by recognizing its vulnerability, especially the vulnerability to compromise in cyberspace. We have really smart airmen who work full-time to strengthen our network and system defenses, the technology that enables our incredible effectiveness in every mission around the globe.

But technology is a tool to help us meet our global commitments; it is not a sufficient solution by itself. This is all part of our new guiding concept, this idea of "strategic agility"the ability to adapt and respond faster than our potential adversaries.

What sort of asymmetric tools should the U.S. Air Force pursue that will help expand its presence with fewer assets?

All the technology in the world isn't very useful if you don't have the thinking, discipline, and creativity to leverage it. Our Air Force is fueled by a force of innovative thinkersour airmen. I consider them to be our most important asymmetric advantage.

In terms of technology, our fighter investments have kept us in front of our potential adversaries for decades, and they've kept our nation's ground forces free from attack from other air forces since 1953. We're not going to compromise that record. We have advantages in our space capabilities, too, and we continue to invest to protect them and to field new generations of capability.

But in terms of expanded presence with fewer assets, no one can be everywhere, so we look at this more from our unique ability to "influence" like no other service can. The Air Force influences events and decisions around the world, oftentimes from afar. Sometimes we do it unseen. Deterrence, coercion, and even humanitarian assistance don't require full-time physical presence. Our recent flights of bombers over the Korean peninsula and the South China Sea in response to provocative behavior by North Korea and China sent very clear signals, and I think they showed presence that mattered. And our responses to disasters in the Philippines, Pakistan, China, Myanmar, India, and many others required the crossing of many time zones and the staying power to sustain the relief efforts. We did that, and we did it faster than any other force on the planet. That's presence that matters.

So our global presence and ability to project power through forward and rotationally deployed forces will continue to be second to none. It is true that we won't be able to afford to keep some of the footprint we currently maintain overseas, but we will continue to build security globally. We'll do this through readiness, partnerships, and autonomous solutions. Our international partnerships are a significant tool in an era of declining budgets. We will continue to build partnerships in order to modernize and enhance our security alliances and increase the capability and capacities of our friends.

Finally, we will continue to prioritize the advantage of unmanned and, where appropriate, autonomous systems. Unmanned aircraft not only allow us to reduce the size, cost, and complexity of operations, they also increase range, endurance, and performance. Where appropriate, future unmanned systems must be more autonomous, placing less demand on communication infrastructure and shortening decision-making cycles.

In an era where the speed of warfare is the speed of light, we will look for solutions that increase capability and presence, at lower cost and risk.

What kinds of threats do U.S. airfields face in future conflicts? What is being done to safeguard them?

Our airfields indeed face very real threats. They are large, stationary, known targets vulnerable to a range of threats. But we're not helpless. We have layered defenses and have been developing a new concept of operations for complicating the targeting efforts of those who would attack or otherwise choose to disrupt our operations.

As a global force, our relationships with allies also enable us to have access to more airfields. The more airfields we have access to, the more options we have for basing, allowing us to rapidly move from one to another, which complicates any potential adversary's targeting plan.

The Air Force is working with the rest of the Department of Defense to solve these problems. However, in the future, I think we need to accept the fact that we may have to fight from airfields while under attack. This isn't a new concept, and we're working on the capabilities that make it possible.

How is the role of electronic warfare changing the balance of stealth and air defense, and how will that be reflected in future aircraft design and combat operations?

In the near term, the stealth technology on our fifth-generation platforms, the F-22 and F-35, is the price of admission into the fight. The lethal envelope of advanced air-defense systems continues to grow against our fourth-generation aircraft.

Recent advancements in radar technology have diminished our traditional stealth capability. The question becomes, how do you regain the advantage? We are pursuing technology through the entire spectrum: radio frequency, audible detection, infrared signature, and optical systems.

These technologies are on the leading edge of industry. The problem is they are not cheap. Electronic attack and the cyber domain will be part of the answer. Hypersonic technology is also promising. Currently, the F-22 can supercruise over the speed of sound, approximately 800 miles per hour. Hypersonic aircraft have the potential to exceed speeds of 5000 mph. This kind of speed limits the ability of any air-defense system to target our aircraft.

The air superiority that America has enjoyed for over 60 years is not by accident, and gaining and maintaining it isn't easy. It requires trained, proficient, ready airmen and a credible, capable fleet of technologically superior aircraft. Air superiority is a fundamental pillar of airpower, a prerequisite to the American way of modern, joint warfare. Without it, our nation's ground and naval forces would have to radically change how they go to war.

Since April of 1953, roughly seven million American servicemembers have deployed to combat and contingency operations all over the world. Thousands of them have died as they fought. Not a single one was killed by an enemy aircraft. We intend to keep it that way.